Ask HN: Non-profit app ideas to help the world?
We're always seeking for app ideas to make profits, but do you have ideas for any app that does not exist yet and could help people at a big scale?
7 comments
Ultra comfortable reusable P100 equivalent respirators with a low profile, consumer friendly form factor and a pre-purchase companion app for picking optimally fitting size and shape using front facing phone sensors. Maybe also track metrics like usage, ambient air pollution and exhaled gas mix on premium models.
Uber but it’s a co-op (there are some of these already)… really any “gig-economy company” but it’s a co-op. Really anything that undermines the status-quo employer/employee, owner/non-owner way of doing things.
Basically all apps that collect fees as an intermediary could be turned into not for profits.
Technically speaking, I agree, but if you think of Uber for example, let's say you make the exact same app, how do you market it then?
Build a platform which rounds up the value of your bills from credit card and uses that money to fund planting trees. Planting of trees can be automated using a drone and donors can be given the location of the trees in an interactive map.
Here is one I am promoting: https://loan-free-ed.neocities.org
I think anything needs to go beyond "app" and be a full blown business, albeit a non-profit business. An app alone doing computational things doesn't help people much.
One idea is handyman services but employ under-privileged people that need help getting back on their feet or a new career. Usually small handyman jobs are really hard to get done because most reputable companies would rather do bigger jobs. Things like "fix my deck stairs" - decking contractors want to do new deck builds because that's more profitable.
The app's users are not just affluent homeowners who don't DIY anything but also local trades companies like plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. The idea is a local carpenter could donate their time, take an apprentice and do handyman calls say 1 day a week. The carpenter could possibly get a tax write-off, the apprentice gains experience, the homeowner gets minor jobs done that are really hard to get contractors to do.
The app would need scheduling/availability, bids/estimates, places for homeowners to make requests, etc. Any costs to run app are built into the pricing that homeowners pay. All money is local, except maybe a flat fee for app+server maintenance for the non-profit.
Its sort of like Habitat for Humanity but handyman services instead of building houses. An app just glues the people and services together and gives it a one-stop-shop feel.
One idea is handyman services but employ under-privileged people that need help getting back on their feet or a new career. Usually small handyman jobs are really hard to get done because most reputable companies would rather do bigger jobs. Things like "fix my deck stairs" - decking contractors want to do new deck builds because that's more profitable.
The app's users are not just affluent homeowners who don't DIY anything but also local trades companies like plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. The idea is a local carpenter could donate their time, take an apprentice and do handyman calls say 1 day a week. The carpenter could possibly get a tax write-off, the apprentice gains experience, the homeowner gets minor jobs done that are really hard to get contractors to do.
The app would need scheduling/availability, bids/estimates, places for homeowners to make requests, etc. Any costs to run app are built into the pricing that homeowners pay. All money is local, except maybe a flat fee for app+server maintenance for the non-profit.
Its sort of like Habitat for Humanity but handyman services instead of building houses. An app just glues the people and services together and gives it a one-stop-shop feel.